## cm1-gn-alignment-framework

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---

### Introduction — Purpose, context, and recommended approach
- Purpose and rationale:
  - The degree of alignment with economic accounting statistical standards (EASSs) provides two signals to users:
    - Information about the quality of cross-country comparisons.
    - An indication of the extent to which major revisions should be expected in the future for economies not aligned with the EASSs.
  - Alignment information helps producers identify areas for improvement, prioritize resources and formulate strategic plans.
  - Alignment information helps users make appropriate adjustments to achieve comparability in analyses.
  - Currently, alignment is largely self-declared by each country; the Communication Task Team (CMTT) argues for internationally accepted frameworks to provide structured, systematic, and consistent methods to measure an economy’s alignment to EASSs.
- Context and timing:
  - Launch of updates to the System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA) and the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, 6th Edition (BPM6) motivates moving away from arbitrary self-declared alignment.
  - The GN proposes adding an assessment framework to each of the EASSs (SNA, BPM and GFSM) and encourages periodic country assessments of their macroeconomic statistics programs.
- Foundations:
  - The GN draws primarily on the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) and the United Nations National Accounts Questionnaire (UN-NAQ).
  - The CMTT’s proposed framework centers on the methodological soundness component of the DQAF.
  - The UNSD evaluates availability, scope, coverage, and implementation of SNA 2008, including “conceptual compliance” via milestones and a Minimum Required Data Set (MRDS).
- Recommended approach:
  - Frameworks are stand-alone tools; they do not require changes to the SNA, BPM, or GFSM.
  - Intended users: national statistical authorities and international agencies to assess methodology and presentation underlying macroeconomic statistics.
  - Expected inclusion in a chapter of the SNA, BPM, and GFSM titled “Economic statistics - Communication Practices and Recommendations.”
  - Frameworks structured around five building blocks of an EASS:
    - (1) Concepts
    - (2) Accounting rules
    - (3) Methods
    - (4) Classification systems
    - (5) Tables/accounts
- Alignment Framework goals and illustrative scenario:
  - Goals: Facilitate cross-country comparisons; help users anticipate potential impact and scale of future revisions to statistics.
  - Illustrative scenario: A comprehensive revision that introduces conceptual and accounting changes could result in a 20 per cent increase in the level of GDP. Demonstrating full alignment with current international recommendations gives users assurance that future changes will be small.
- Rationale for the term “alignment”:
  - Full compliance is often unrealistic given differences in economic structures, data needs, resources, statistical infrastructure, and source data.
  - Framework must be flexible to recognize parts of a standard may not apply or may be immaterial in a given economy.

### Components explained and granularity
- Concepts:
  - Determine what gets measured (example: production as defined in 2008 SNA §1.40).
  - Other key concepts: income, assets, capital formation, expenditure, consumption.
- Accounting rules:
  - Guidelines for recording transactions and flows (example: transactions recorded “on an accrual basis throughout” (2008 SNA § 3.163)).
  - Include time of recording, valuation, consolidations, and netting.
- Methods:
  - Ways to implement accounting rules or measure concepts (example: using price indices versus enterprise balance sheets for valuation).
- Classifications:
  - Determine level of detail presented and facilitate consistent aggregation and analysis across regions, firms, etc.
- Sequence of accounts / tables:
  - Specify structure and terminology for communicating macroeconomic statistics; most EASSs identify minimum required accounts/tables proposed for inclusion in the alignment framework.
- Granularity and scope:
  - Alignment checklist will focus on categories that affect levels and growth rates.
  - A preliminary checklist is included in Annex II for SNA, GFSM, and BPM; the final checklist will depend on decisions about updated EASS content.
- Illustrative measurement example:
  - If a country includes estimates of illegal drug production and illegal drug-trafficking but does not account for illegal tobacco smuggling, and illegal tobacco smuggling is at most five per cent of the value of drug production and drug trafficking, then the compiler would indicate they fully align since they capture approximately 95 per cent of illegal activity.

### Communicating with users — Dashboard approach and alignment bands
- Dashboard rationale:
  - Dashboard preferred over an aggregate scoring system because scoring may create disincentives and requires subjective weighting; a dashboard can present information without quantifying into a single score, remaining simple, straightforward, and flexible.
- Degree-of-alignment categories proposed for each checklist item (implementation thresholds preserved exactly):
  - Fully align with the recommendation – meaning that between 95-100 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Highly align with the recommendation – meaning that between 75-95 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Broadly align with the recommendation – meaning that between 50-75 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Partially align with the recommendation – meaning that between 25-50 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Do Not align with the recommendation – meaning between 0-25 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Not Applicable – meaning that for issues of materiality or relevance, the recommendation is not implemented. Materiality steer: less than 0.05 per cent (and/or a monetary equivalent) of GDP.
- Rationale for percentage ranges:
  - Range approach acknowledges subjectivity and practical difficulty in determining exact alignment percentages; compiler judgment and knowledge of country processes and economic activity are used.

### Digital dashboard recommendation and coding
- Recommendation: EASS alignment dashboard
  - CMTT recommends dashboard be presented in digital format and included as part of the sources and methods documentation for a given EASS.
  - Assessment can be for entire macroeconomic accounts program or for individual accounts.
  - Suggested color coding:
    - Fully Aligned = Green
    - Highly Aligned = Light green
    - Broadly Aligned = Yellow
    - Partially Aligned = Light Yellow
    - Not Aligned = Red
    - Not Applicable = Black
  - CMTT example alignment dashboard structure uses items from Annex II (Production Boundary; Covers: Observed market output, Non-observed market output, Non-market output, Output for own final use; Imputed services; Illegal output).
  - Note: fully aligned, partially aligned and not aligned categories appropriate for concepts, methods, accounting rules but not when considering classifications used, tables or accounts.
  - Proposal: quantify alignment of tables and accounts using timeliness (days released after the reference period) and granularity (number of detailed classes) as shown in Annex II.

### Practical aspects for compilers and publication practices
- Practical considerations:
  - Compilers should assess alignment of their macroeconomic program to the relevant EASS.
  - National compilers should communicate assessment results broadly to users and the international statistical community.
  - Because macroeconomic accounts are continuously evolving, countries need to periodically update assessments to reflect the current state of their macroeconomic accounts program.
- Scope regarding changes to existing standards:
  - Recommendation does not propose changes to concepts of the EASS.
  - Recommendation defines a set of concepts, accounting rules, methods, classifications, and tables/accounts that constitute a given EASS; set determined by deliberate assessment of components with significant impact on level or growth of macroeconomic statistics.
  - CMTT recommends inclusion of proposals as part of a chapter to the SNA, BPM, and GFS titled “Economic statistics - Communication Practices and Recommendations,” and recommends inclusion of CMTT GNs on Terminology (CM.2) and Taxonomy (CM.3).
  - CMTT recommends countries be encouraged to use the framework and make results publicly available.

### SNA Alignment Framework — Structure and checklist elements (Annex II)
- Metadata items requested:
  - National Code of Practice (Y/N)
  - Last benchmark year for GDP (Enter year)
  - Latest period for which balanced SUTs are available (select from dropdown)
  - Latest period for which institutional sector accounts are available (select from dropdown)
  - Published revision policy (Y/N)
  - Release cycle used for Annual National Accounts, Quarterly National Accounts, Other
  - Documentation links for sources of data and compilation methods
- Concepts and definitions areas to assess (examples):
  - Units of the economy (e.g., Domestic territory; Territorial enclaves in the rest of the world; Free zones/bonded warehouses / factories operated by offshore enterprises under customs control; Workers who work part of the year in another country; Goods that do not change economic ownership)
  - Production boundary items (e.g., Market output; Non-market output; Output for own final use; Informal economy; Underground economy; Illegal activities; Imputed services of owner-occupied dwellings; Research and development; etc.)
  - Asset boundary items (e.g., Dwellings; Intellectual property products; Weapons systems; Mineral exploration and evaluation; Systems and standard applications computer software and databases; Research and development products; Leases and other transferable contracts)
- Accounting rules examples to assess:
  - Output is valued at basic prices.
  - Output for own use is valued at equivalent market prices.
  - If levied, sales and excise taxes are included in the valuation of intermediate consumption.
  - Transactions and flows are recorded on an accrual basis.
  - Consumption of fixed capital is valued at current replacement cost.
  - Total imports and exports are valued on an f.o.b. basis.
  - Transactions in foreign currency are converted using the mid-point exchange rate prevailing in the market when they take place.
- Methods examples:
  - Sub-annual series are seasonally adjusted.
  - Output and intermediate consumption are deflated by appropriate price indexes at basic prices or at producer prices consistently.
  - Volume indexes are chained-weighted.
  - ANA and QNA volume are chain-linked.
- Classification and presentation attributes requested:
  - Classifications: ISIC; CPC; COICOP; COFOG; COPNI; Other (Name, Version, Level of Details, Purpose).
  - Statistical unit options: LKAU; KAU; UHP; Local UHP; Enterprise; Institutional unit; Enterprise Group; Other (name).
  - Accounts/tables attributes: Timeliness (e.g. T+30 days, T+3 months, etc.); Granularity (Number of industries or number of transaction lines); Limitations (e.g. missing entries).
  - Examples of accounts/tables to report timeliness/granularity/limitations for include Annual and Quarterly GDP by various breakdowns; Annual sequence of accounts for the total economy; Sectoral accounts; Supply and Use tables; Input-Output tables; Financial accounts and balance sheets; Productivity tables; tourism, environmental, capital stock, labour accounts.

### BPM Alignment Framework — Concepts, methods, rules, classification, accounts (Annex III)
- Metadata and revision policy queries:
  - Queries whether a published revision policy exists (Y/N) and requests insertion of the link.
  - Queries whether the BoP revision policy is consistent with the National Accounts revision policy (Y/N) and requests insertion of the link; if inconsistent, requests reasons.
- Concepts and methods — alignment scale (thresholds preserved exactly):
  - "Fully aligned" = between 95-100 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Highly aligned" = between 75-95 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Broadly aligned" = between 50-75 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Partially aligned" = between 25-50 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Not aligned" = between 0-25 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Not applicable (N/A)" = recommendation is not implemented for issues of materiality.
- Concepts and definitions — items to assess:
  - Units of the economy (residency and special units), coverage of BoP accounts (foreign and domestic currency transactions with non-residents; exchanges and unrequited transfers; goods for processing; e-commerce transactions; leases and other transferable contracts; reinvested earnings; trade credit; debt arrears; non-cash transactions), and international investment position coverage (all financial claims between resident units and non-residents).
  - Structure and double-entry accounting: current, capital, and financial accounts defined according to BPM6; net lending/net borrowing relationships; gross presentation of FDI and directional basis availability; treatment of merchanting, R&D, FISIM, migrants’ transfers, long-term construction projects, license fees for fishing and hunting, intercompany transactions, maturity attribution for other investment, etc.
  - Functional categories: foreign direct investment defined as equity ownership representing 10 per cent or more of the voting power; reserve assets defined considering monetary authorities’ effective control and availability for use.
  - Sectorization: government guaranteed external debt transactions attributed to institutional sector of borrower; government-controlled enterprises classified as public enterprises when excluded from general government.
- Accounting rules — valuation, time of recording, grossing/netting:
  - Valuation rules: market prices used where available; monetary gold at market prices; total imports and exports on an f.o.b. basis; loans/deposits recorded at nominal value; appropriate substitutes or fair value estimates when markets not available; transactions in foreign currency converted using the mid-point exchange rate prevailing in the market when they take place; proper adjustments if multiple official exchange rates exist.
  - Time of recording: transactions recorded on an accrual basis and according to change in ownership principle.
  - Grossing/Netting: current and capital account transactions recorded on a gross basis; financial account transactions recorded on a net basis, separately for individual asset and liability components.
- Methods examples:
  - Investment income obtained directly or estimated by multiplying outstanding stock of financial assets by a representative yield.
  - Direct investment relationships identified using FDIR or similar methods.
- Classification systems requested:
  - BPM6 Classification of Institutional Sectors (Table 4.2); Functional Categories for primary income, financial account and IIP; BPM6 classification of financial assets and liabilities by instrument (Table 5.2); BPM6 Classification of Services (Table 10.1).
- Accounts and tables — compilation and dissemination aspects:
  - Timeliness, granularity, and limitations requested for BOP standard components and IIP standard components and many supplemental items (examples include Reserve-related liabilities (Table A9-V); Currency composition of assets and liabilities (Table A9-I); Direct investment by instrument, maturity and institutional sector; Direct investment involving resident SPEs; Real estate investment; Pass-through funds; Data by partner economy; Gross flows for financial account items; Reconciliation table between merchandise source data and goods on a balance of payments basis; Gross insurance premiums earned and unadjusted insurance claims; Transfers implied by loans at concessional interest; Personal remittances; Total remittances; Insurance claims included in other capital transfers).
  - Additional supplemental IIP items: currency composition of assets and liabilities (Tables A9-II and A9-III); foreign currency assets of monetary authorities; foreign assets of special purpose government funds; pooled assets included in reserve assets; pledged assets excluded from reserve assets; debt securities at nominal values; remaining maturity split for debt liabilities (Table A9-IV); integrated IIP statement with positions, transactions and other changes (as shown in Table 7.1); contingent assets/liabilities (see para. 5.10).

### GFS Alignment Framework — Concepts, accounting rules, methods, classifications, tables (Annex IV)
- Metadata and dissemination:
  - Requests disclosure on publication frequency and timeliness for Annual, Quarterly, Monthly GFS (Y/N; link; timing after reference period).
  - Questions on IMF dissemination standards subscription (SDDS+ / SDDS / e-GDDS) and published revision policies (Y/N; link); consistency of GFS revision policy with National Accounts revision policy (Y/N; link); if not consistent, request reasons.
  - Requests published list of government and/or public sector units (Y/N; link) and update frequency; asks whether process of producing list is published (Y/N; link).
  - Asks whether different GFS publications are harmonized and consistent (Y/N) and whether high frequency GFS are consistent with annual GFS (Y/N).
- Coverage (institutional and stock/flow):
  - Institutional sectors and frequency/coverage matrix requested for: BCG, EBCG, CG, SSF, SG, LG, GG, NFPC, FPC, PS.
  - For each sector indicate accounting basis (CA, AC, PA), whether data are consolidated (Y/N), highest frequency of publication (A, Q, M).
  - Coverage items for each sector: Revenue; Expenditure – economic classification; Expenditure – functional classification (COFOG); Transactions in financial assets and liabilities; Nonfinancial assets (stocks); Financial assets (stocks); Liabilities - including debt (stocks); Other economic flows; Contingent liabilities (stocks).
  - Abbreviations defined exactly and codes to be used: “NP” if institutional sector not applicable to country, “NA” if institutional sector applicable but data are not compiled/published.
- Concepts and definitions — principal inclusions/exclusions and unit definitions:
  - Units of general government include all central, state, local government units; territorial enclaves in the rest of the world; all social security funds; all non-market NPIs controlled by government; public corporations defined and distinguished.
  - Revenue concepts: revenue includes only transactions which increase net worth; in-kind revenues included; transactions in debt forgiveness (to government) included; principal payments related to (policy) lending excluded; privatisation proceeds excluded (included instead as disposals of equity); only taxes and social contributions with realistic expectation of collection included.
  - Expense concepts: expense includes only transactions which decrease net worth; in-kind expenses included; consumption of fixed capital included; compensation of employees includes all amounts payable to employees and imputed employers’ social contributions related to pension; subsidies include transfers to enterprises based on production; capital injections included where no effective financial claim or expectation of realistic return; acquisitions of equity and (policy) lending excluded.
  - Non-financial assets included: Buildings; Infrastructure; Transport equipment; ICT equipment; Cultivated biological resources; Research and development products; Mineral exploration and evaluation; Weapons systems; Inventories; Natural resources; Contracts, leases and licenses.
  - Financial assets and liabilities included: Monetary gold (assets only); Special Drawing Rights; Currency and deposits; Debt securities; Loans; Equity; Pension entitlements and/or Claims of pension funds on pension managers; Provisions for calls under standardized guarantee schemes; Financial derivatives; Other accounts receivable / payable.
- Accounting rules — valuation, timing, consolidation:
  - Valuation rules: single unit of account; stocks of financial assets and liabilities valued at market prices; debt statistics produced at nominal value; stocks of non-financial assets valued at market prices; transactions in non-financial produced fixed assets net of consumption of fixed capital; transactions in foreign currency converted using mid-point exchange rate prevailing in the market when they take place; consumption of fixed capital, where reported, valued at current replacement cost.
  - Time of recording: transactions and flows recorded on an accrual basis; interest recorded as accruing continuously; rent recorded as accruing continuously; dividends recorded when declared payable; fines and penalties recorded when recipient has an unconditional claim; transactions in non-financial assets recorded when economic ownership changes; where material difference between purchase and use of goods, recognized as inventories first.
  - Consolidation rules: internal transactions and stock positions within an institutional unit consolidated and not recorded; transactions and stock positions between units within a subsector consolidated and not recorded in the GFS for that subsector; transactions and stock positions between government subsectors consolidated and not recorded in the GFS for the general government sector (or public sector).
- Methods — implementation approaches and decision tools:
  - Taxes recorded using either the time-adjusted cash method or the assessment/declaration approach (see GFSM 2014 para. 3.80).
  - Costs incurred in own-account capital formation treated solely as transactions in nonfinancial assets and excluded from expense.
  - Employment-related pension liabilities calculated using an actuarial approach.
  - Dividend payments assessed using the “super-dividend test” and split between revenue/expense and transactions in financial assets/liabilities as required.
  - Capital injections assessed using the “capital injection decision tree” and split between expense/revenue and transactions in financial assets/liabilities as required.
  - Nature of leases examined to distinguish operating leases from financial leases.
  - Risk and reward assessment of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) conducted to determine whether assets should be on public sector balance sheet.
- Classifications & Accounts/Tables — checklist reporting
  - Checklist items to indicate reporting status (Y/N), timeliness, level of detail, omissions for presentation: Statement of Operations; Transactions in Nonfinancial Assets, Financial Assets, and Liabilities; Expenditure by COFOG including Cross-Classification; Statement of Sources and Uses of Cash; Statement of Other Economic Flows; Balance Sheet; Integrated Statement of Flows and Stock Positions; Statement of Total Changes in Net Worth; Summary Statement of Explicit Contingent Liabilities and Net Implicit Obligations for Future Social Security Benefits; Gross Debt at Market, Nominal, and Face Value; Net Debt at Market, Nominal, and Face Value; Counterparty of Transactions and Stocks in Financial Assets and Liabilities by Institutional Sector.

### Outcomes of Committee discussions and next steps (Annex V)
- Meetings and questions:
  - July 2021 AEG meeting questions focused on agreement with components, dashboard methodology, category definitions, and proposals for communicating overall level of alignment.
  - CMTT guidance following July 2021: members welcomed progress, encouraged alignment with existing frameworks (UN National Quality Assurance Framework, IMF’s DQAF, GSBPM); emphasized flexibility and inclusion of a 'not applicable' category; reluctance to use a single 'score'; concerns about subjectivity and differentiation from existing metadata; CMTT requested to further refine guidance note with target for next version to be ready by the end of September 2021; guidance note subsequently updated to reflect members’ comments.
  - October and November 2021 BOPCOM and AEG meetings asked whether to move note forward to global consultation and agreed on components and dashboard methodology with suggested improvements.
- Suggested improvements and follow-up actions:
  - Conduct pilot surveys among volunteering countries on the proposed frameworks.
  - Include guidelines to balance alignment information with other metadata, particularly for statistical offices with limited resources.
  - Provide further guidance on interpretation of the dashboard and judging dashboard elements to avoid subjectivity in assessments.
  - Finalize granularity of components after updated BPM6 recommendations (and other Manuals) are available.
  - Link self-assessments to equivalent standard pages on IMF e-GDDS, SDDS, and/or SDDS+.
  - Promote a central webpage similar to the IMF Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) “National Summary Data Page.”
  - Note: observation that full alignment on the dashboard may not always correspond to better quality; a country with partial alignment but better source data might be shown as inferior to a fully aligned country.

*Source: Guidance note by the Communication Task Team; Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMTT) guidance note (cm1-gn-alignment-framework).*

### INTRODUCTION

### cm1-gn-alignment-framework - INTRODUCTION

### Purpose and Rationale
- The degree of alignment with economic accounting statistical standards (EASSs) provides two signals to users:
  - Information about the quality of cross-country comparisons.
  - An indication of the extent to which major revisions should be expected in the future for economies not aligned with the EASSs.
- Alignment information helps producers:
  - Identify areas for improvement.
  - Prioritize resources and formulate strategic plans.
- Alignment information helps users:
  - Make appropriate adjustments to achieve comparability in analyses.
- Currently, alignment is largely self-declared by each country; the GN argues for internationally accepted frameworks to provide structured, systematic, and consistent methods to measure an economy’s alignment to EASSs.

### Context and Timing
- The launch of updates to the System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA) and the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, 6th Edition (BPM6) makes it timely to move away from an arbitrary, self-imposed approach to declaring alignment.
- The GN proposes adding an assessment framework to each of the EASSs (SNA, BPM and GFSM) and encourages periodic country assessments of their macroeconomic statistics programs.

### Existing Material and Foundations
- The GN draws primarily on:
  - The IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF).
  - The United Nations National Accounts Questionnaire (UN-NAQ).
- The CMTT’s proposed framework centers on the methodological soundness component of the DQAF.
- The UNSD evaluates availability, scope, coverage, and implementation of SNA 2008, including “conceptual compliance” via milestones and a Minimum Required Data Set (MRDS).

### Recommended Approach
- The proposed frameworks:
  - Are stand-alone tools; they do not require changes to the SNA, BPM, or GFSM.
  - Are intended for national statistical authorities and international agencies to assess the methodology and presentation underlying macroeconomic statistics.
  - Are expected to be included in a chapter of the SNA, BPM, and GFSM titled “Economic statistics - Communication Practices and Recommendations.”
- Frameworks are structured around the key building blocks of an EASS:
  - (1) Concepts
  - (2) Accounting rules
  - (3) Methods
  - (4) Classification systems
  - (5) Tables/accounts

### Alignment Framework: Purpose and Use
- Goals:
  - Facilitate cross-country comparisons.
  - Help users anticipate potential impact and scale of future revisions to statistics.
- Illustrative scenario:
  - A comprehensive revision that introduces conceptual and accounting changes could result in a 20 per cent increase in the level of GDP. Demonstrating full alignment with current international recommendations gives users assurance that future changes will be small.
- Rationale for the term “alignment”:
  - Full compliance is often unrealistic given differences in economic structures, data needs, resources, statistical infrastructure, and source data.
  - The framework must be flexible to recognize that parts of a standard may not apply or may be immaterial in a given economy.

### Components Explained
- Concepts:
  - Determine what gets measured (example: production as defined in 2008 SNA §1.40).
  - Other key concepts: income, assets, capital formation, expenditure, consumption.
- Accounting rules:
  - Guidelines for recording transactions and flows (example: transactions recorded “on an accrual basis throughout” (2008 SNA § 3.163)).
  - Include time of recording, valuation, consolidations, and netting.
- Methods:
  - Ways to implement accounting rules or measure concepts (example: using price indices versus enterprise balance sheets for valuation).
- Classifications:
  - Determine level of detail presented and facilitate consistent aggregation and analysis across regions, firms, etc.
- Sequence of accounts / tables:
  - Specify structure and terminology for communicating macroeconomic statistics.
  - Most EASSs identify minimum required accounts/tables; these are proposed to be incorporated into the alignment framework.
- Granularity and scope:
  - A practical subset of items will be included in an alignment checklist focusing on categories that affect levels and growth rates.
  - A preliminary checklist has been developed and included in Annex II for SNA, GFSM, and BPM; the final checklist will depend on decisions about updated EASS content.

### Communicating with Users — Dashboard Approach
- The GN recommends a dashboard rather than an aggregate scoring system because:
  - Scoring may create disincentives and requires subjective weighting (e.g., weighing concepts versus accounting rules).
  - A dashboard can present information without quantifying into a single score, remaining simple, straightforward, and flexible.
- Degree-of-alignment categories proposed for each checklist item:
  - Fully align with the recommendation – meaning that between 95-100 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Highly align with the recommendation – meaning that between 75-95 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Broadly align with the recommendation – meaning that between 50-75 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Partially align with the recommendation – meaning that between 25-50 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Do Not align with the recommendation – meaning between 0-25 per cent of the recommendations are implemented.
  - Not Applicable – meaning that for issues of materiality or relevance, the recommendation is not implemented. Materiality is subjective but a steer would be less than 0.05 per cent (and/or a monetary equivalent) of GDP.
- Rationale for percentage ranges:
  - The range approach acknowledges subjectivity and practical difficulty in determining exact alignment percentages; compiler judgment and knowledge of country processes and economic activity are used.
- Illustrative measurement example:
  - If a country includes estimates of illegal drug production and illegal drug-trafficking but does not account for illegal tobacco smuggling, and illegal tobacco smuggling is at most five per cent of the value of drug production and drug trafficking, then the compiler would indicate they fully align since they capture approximately 95 per cent of illegal activity.

*Source: Guidance note by the Communication Task Team (INTRODUCTION).*

### 22.      It is recommended that the dashboard be presented in digital format and be

### cm1-gn-alignment-framework - 22.      It is recommended that the dashboard be presented in digital format and be

### Recommendation: EASS alignment dashboard
- The CMTT recommends that the dashboard be presented in digital format and be included as a part of the sources and methods documentation for a given EASS.
- The assessment can be performed for the entirety of a macroeconomic accounts program or for individual accounts.
- The CMTT recommends color coding the assessment as follows:
  - Fully Aligned = Green
  - Highly Aligned = Light green
  - Broadly Aligned = Yellow
  - Partially Aligned = Light Yellow
  - Not Aligned = Red
  - Not Applicable = Black
- The CMTT provides an example alignment dashboard structure using the first few items from Annex II (Production Boundary; Covers: Observed market output, Non-observed market output, Non-market output, Output for own final use; Imputed services; Illegal output).
- The CMTT notes that the fully aligned, partially aligned and not aligned categories are appropriate when considering concepts, methods, and accounting rules but not when considering classifications used, tables or accounts.
- The CMTT proposes that timeliness (days released after the reference period) and granularity (number of detailed classes) be used in “quantifying” the alignment of tables and accounts to a given standard as shown in Annex II.

### Practical aspects for compilers (Section IV)
- The recommendation has several practical considerations:
  - Compilers should assess the alignment of their macroeconomic program to the relevant EASS.
  - National compilers should communicate the results of this assessment broadly to users and the international statistical community.
  - Because macroeconomic accounts are continuously evolving, countries will need to periodically update this assessment to reflect the current state of their macroeconomic accounts program.

### Scope regarding changes to existing standards (Section V)
- The recommendation does not propose changes to the concepts of the EASS.
- The recommendation defines a set of concepts, accounting rules, methods, classifications, and tables/accounts that constitute a given EASS; this “set” was determined by deliberate assessment of those components that have a significant impact on either the level or growth of macroeconomic statistics.
- The CMTT recommends inclusion of the above proposals as part of a chapter to the SNA, BPM, and GFS titled “Economic statistics - Communication Practices and Recommendations.”
- The CMTT recommends that the proposed chapter include information from the CMTT GNs on Terminology (CM.2) and Taxonomy (CM.3).
- The CMTT recommends that countries be encouraged to use the framework and make the results publicly available for all users.

### Alignment scoring definitions (Annex II — Concepts and Methods)
- The framework defines alignment bands and their implementation thresholds:
  - "fully align with the recommendation" means between 95-100 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - "highly align with the recommendation" means between 75-95 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - "broadly align with the recommendation" means between 50-75 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - "partially align with the recommendation" means between 25-50 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - "do not align with the recommendation" means between 0-25 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - "the recommendation is not applicable" means for issues of materiality or user requirements the recommendation is not implemented

### Structure and elements of the SNA Alignment Framework (Annex II)
- Metadata items requested:
  - National Code of Practice (Y/N)
  - Last benchmark year for GDP (Enter year)
  - Latest period for which balanced SUTs are available (select from dropdown)
  - Latest period for which institutional sector accounts are available (select from dropdown)
  - Published revision policy (Y/N)
  - Release cycle used for Annual National Accounts, Quarterly National Accounts, Other
  - Documentation links for sources of data and compilation methods
- Concepts and definitions areas to assess include (examples shown):
  - Units of the economy (Domestic territory; Territorial enclaves in the rest of the world; Free zones/bonded warehouses / factories operated by offshore enterprises under customs control; Workers who work part of the year in another country; Goods that do not change economic ownership)
  - Production boundary (Market output; Non-market output; Output for own final use; Informal economy; Underground economy; Illegal activities; Other non-observed activities; Imputed services of owner-occupied dwellings; Own-account production; Research and development; Output of goods for own-account fixed capital formation; Costs of mineral exploration; Production of entertainment, literary, or artistic originals; Production of computer software for own account)
  - Asset boundary (Dwellings; Other buildings and structures; Machinery and equipment; Weapons systems; Cultivated biological resources; Intellectual property products; Valuables; Defence related assets that could be used for civilian purposes; Weapons systems such as warships, submarines, tanks, missile carriers and launchers, etc.; Valuables and historical monuments; Agricultural work-in-progress; Mineral exploration and evaluation; Systems and standard applications computer software and databases; Entertainment, literary or artistic originals; Research and development products; Leases and other transferable contracts)
- Accounting rules areas to assess include valuation, time of recording, grossing/netting, and consolidation. Examples of specific rules listed:
  - Output is valued at basic prices
  - Output for own use is valued at equivalent market prices
  - If levied, sales and excise taxes are included in the valuation of intermediate consumption
  - If value added taxes are in place, they are included in the valuation of intermediate consumption, excluding the deductible part of the value added taxes
  - If applicable, the deductible part of the value added taxes is excluded from the valuation of final uses
  - Corrections are made when transfer prices are detected
  - Information on the cost of insurance and freight for merchandise imports is available
  - Total imports and exports are valued on an f.o.b. basis
  - Transactions in foreign currency are converted using the mid-point exchange rate prevailing in the market when they take place
  - Proper adjustments are made if a system of multiple official exchange rates exists
  - Consumption of fixed capital is valued at current replacement cost
  - Stock of non-financial assets are valued at market prices
  - Transactions and flows are recorded on an accrual basis
  - Work-in-progress is recorded in the period it is produced
  - Government-related transactions are recorded on an accrual basis, in particular taxes and subsidies on products; expenditures; revenues
  - Transactions between establishments within the same enterprise are recorded on a gross basis
- Methods examples:
  - Sub-annual series are seasonally adjusted
  - Output and intermediate consumption are deflated by appropriate price indexes at basic prices or at producer prices consistently
  - Volume indexes are chained-weighted
  - ANA and QNA volume are chain-linked
- Classification and presentation elements requested:
  - Classifications: ISIC; CPC; COICOP; COFOG; COPNI; Other classifications (Name, Version, Level of Details, Purpose)
  - Statistical unit options: LKAU; KAU; UHP; Local UHP; Enterprise; Institutional unit; Enterprise Group; Other (name)
  - Accounts/tables attributes: Timeliness (e.g. T+30 days, T+3 months, etc.); Granularity (Number of industries or number of transaction lines); Limitations (e.g. missing entries)
  - Examples of accounts/tables to report timeliness/granularity/limitations for include:
    - Annual value added by industry and GDP in current prices and in volume terms
    - Annual GDP by expenditure in current prices and in volume terms
    - Annual GDP by income in current prices
    - Annual sequence of accounts for the total economy (until net lending / borrowing)
    - Annual rest of the world accounts (until net lending / borrowing)
    - Annual and quarterly sectoral accounts for non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households, non-profit institutions serving households
    - Quarterly value added by industry and GDP in current prices and in volume terms
    - Recommended and desirable tables and accounts such as Annual Supply and Use tables; Annual Input-Output tables; Annual integrated economic account table; Annual financial accounts for all institutional sectors; Annual balance sheets, revaluation and other volume changes; Annual social accounting matrices; Quarterly Supply and Use tables; Quarterly financial accounts for all sectors; Productivity tables; Annual tourism accounts; environmental accounts and other socio-economic accounts; Capital stock; Labour accounts

*Source: Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMTT) guidance note (cm1-gn-alignment-framework).*

### Annex III. Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM) Alignment Framework for Concepts, Meth

### Annex III. Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM) Alignment Framework for Concepts, Methods, Rules, Classification, Accounts and Tables

### Metadata
- The framework queries whether a published revision policy exists (Y/N) and requests an insertion of the link.
- The framework queries whether the BoP revision policy is consistent with the National Accounts revision policy (Y/N) and requests an insertion of the link.
- If revision policies are inconsistent, the framework requests reasons explaining why not.
- The framework provides space for other documentation useful links by topic and theme (fields: Topic, Theme, Insert name, Insert link).

### Concepts and Methods — Alignment scale and scope
- Degree-of-alignment categories defined:
  - "Fully aligned" = between 95-100 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Highly aligned" = between 75-95 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Broadly aligned" = between 50-75 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Partially aligned" = between 25-50 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Not aligned" = between 0-25 per cent of the recommendation is implemented.
  - "Not applicable (N/A)" = recommendation is not implemented for issues of materiality.
- The framework lists categories and sub-categories for assessment of alignment with BPM concepts, definitions, methods, and accounting rules.

### Concepts and definitions — items to assess
- Units of the economy (residency and special units):
  - Domestic territory; incorporated or unincorporated affiliates of non-resident companies.
  - Territorial enclaves in the rest of the world.
  - Free zones / bonded warehouses / factories operated by offshore enterprises under customs control.
  - Workers who work part of the year in another country.
  - Residence of Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) is attributed to the economy in which they are located.
  - International organizations and supranational authorities are not considered residents of any national economy.
  - All units of general government (e.g. embassies, military bases) are considered to be resident in their own economy.
  - Subject to specific circumstances, an individual may cease being a resident of his country when he or she works continuously for one year or more in a foreign country.
- Balance of payments accounts coverage:
  - Both foreign currency and domestic currency transactions with non-residents.
  - Both exchanges and unrequited transfers.
  - Goods for processing; repairs on goods; non-monetary gold; shuttle trade; smuggling.
  - Purchase of computer software; mineral exploration; e-commerce transactions.
  - Leases and other transferable contracts; reinvested earnings; inter-company lending.
  - Portfolio investment of private sector; trade credit; short-term debt transactions; debt arrears; non-cash transactions.
- International investment position accounts:
  - All financial claims between resident institutional units and non-residents.
- Structure (concepts and definitions):
  - Current, capital, and financial accounts defined according to BPM6.
  - Net lending / net borrowing recorded in current and capital account is in principle equal to net lending / net borrowing recorded in the financial account.
  - Double-entry system applied; net residual embedded in errors and omissions; net errors and omissions derived as financial-account net lending/net borrowing minus current-and-capital derived net lending/net borrowing.
  - Clear distinction between income component and goods and services components.
  - Financial account records transactions in assets and transactions in liabilities separately.
  - Foreign direct investment presented on a gross assets and liabilities basis; directional basis (inward and outward direct investment) also available.
  - Transactions in goods and services by government entities abroad classified under government services not-included-elsewhere.
  - Manufacturing on physical inputs owned by nonresidents recorded as a service.
  - Merchanting of goods classified under goods trade, with both gross and net values shown; net amounts included in goods exports aggregates.
  - Outright purchases and sales of results of R&D (including patents and copyrights) recorded under R&D services.
  - Charges for use of outcomes of R&D classified as a service under charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
  - Financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) distinguished from investment income and classified under financial services.
  - All changes related to migrants’ transfers excluded from the BOP; corrections as other changes are made in the IIP for relevant positions.
  - Long-term construction projects classified under foreign direct investment.
  - License fees for fishing and hunting included in the capital account.
  - Borrowing and lending (including debt securities and supplier’s credits) between direct investors and direct investment enterprises classified under foreign direct investment, except where transactions/positions are between a selected category of affiliated financial intermediaries.
  - Loan transactions and positions of the banking sector classified separately from currency and deposits transactions/positions of this sector; interbank loan positions classified under deposits.
  - Short-term and long-term attribution of transactions and positions in other investment made according to original maturity of the financial instrument.
- Functional categories:
  - Foreign direct investment defined as equity ownership representing 10 per cent or more of the voting power.
  - Reserve assets defined considering monetary authorities’ effective control and availability for use.
- Sectorization:
  - Government guaranteed external debt transactions attributed to institutional sector of the borrower.
  - Government-controlled enterprises that are public corporations excluded from general government and included as public enterprises in the appropriate nonfinancial or financial corporations sector.

### Accounting Rules — valuation, time of recording, grossing/netting
- Valuation:
  - Market prices used to value transactions and positions; for some positions, proxies are used.
  - Monetary gold valued at market prices.
  - Financial instruments traded on a regular basis valued using price quotations from markets.
  - Total imports and exports valued on an f.o.b. basis.
  - Appropriate substitute measures developed when no actual market prices are available (examples: barter trade, transactions between affiliated enterprises, gifts or grants).
  - For financial instruments not or infrequently traded, a fair value is estimated that approximates market value.
  - Loans, deposits, and other accounts receivable/payable recorded at nominal value.
  - When transaction estimates are derived from stock data, the value of the transaction excludes valuation and other changes.
  - Transactions in foreign currency converted using the mid-point exchange rate prevailing in the market when they take place.
  - When transaction estimates are derived from stock data, an attempt is made to value the stock data in their original currencies, and then convert the change in original currency to domestic currency/unit of account at the average exchange rate for the applicable period.
  - Proper adjustments made if a system of multiple official exchange rates exists.
- Time of recording:
  - Transactions recorded on an accrual basis.
  - Transactions recorded according to the change in ownership principle.
- Grossing / Netting, Consolidation:
  - Current and capital account transactions recorded on a gross basis.
  - Financial account transactions recorded on a net basis, separately for individual asset and liability components.

### Methods
- Methods implement accounting rules by operational procedures and data sources.
- Examples included:
  - Investment income obtained directly (e.g. reported on a survey) or estimated by multiplying outstanding stock of financial assets by a corresponding representative yield.
  - Direct investment relationships identified by applying the Foreign Direct Investment Relationship (FDIR) or similar methods.

### Classification systems
- BPM6 classifications requested for alignment:
  - BPM6 Classification of Institutional Sectors (Table 4.2).
  - Primary income, financial account, and IIP classified according to Functional Categories.
  - BPM6 classification of financial assets and liabilities by instrument (Table 5.2).
  - BPM6 Classification of Services (Table 10.1).
- Framework allows listing of other classification systems (name, version, level of details, purpose).

### Accounts and Tables — compilation and dissemination aspects
- Timeliness, granularity, and limitations requested for:
  - Balance of payments standard components and memorandum items (Appendix 9).
  - International investment position standard components and memorandum items (Appendix 9).
  - Reserve-related liabilities (Table A9-V).
  - Non-performing loans separately at fair value (para. 7.45-7.56).
  - Currency composition of assets and liabilities and institutional sector (Table A9-I).
  - Additional supplemental items for BOP and IIP as applicable.
  - Direct investment by instrument, maturity, and institutional sector (see para. 2.32, 2.34, and 14.59).
  - Direct investment involving resident SPEs (see para. 4.50 and 4.87).
  - Direct investment in the reporting economy and direct investment abroad (see Box 6.4).
  - Real estate investment (see para. 6.31).
  - Pass-through funds (see 6.33-6.34).
  - Data by kind of economic activity (industry) (see para. 6.50).
  - Mergers and acquisitions (see para. 8.18).
  - Data for money-issuing sector (see para. 4.72).
  - Financial account items for public corporations (see 4.108).
  - Data by partner economy (see para. 4-146-4.148).
  - Detail for investment income to match the IIP (see para. 7.13 and 11.6).
  - Gross flows for financial account items (see para. 8.9).
  - Reconciliation table between merchandise source data and goods on a balance of payments basis (see Table 10.2).
  - Gross insurance premiums earned and unadjusted insurance claims (see para. 10.112).
  - Transfers implied by loans at concessional interest (see para. 12.51).
  - Personal remittances (see para. 12.27(a)).
  - Total remittances (see para. 12.27(b)).
  - Total remittances and transfers to nonprofit institutions serving households (see para. 12.27(c)).
  - Insurance claims included in other capital transfers (see para. 13.24).
- Additional supplemental items for IIP:
  - Currency composition of assets and liabilities and institutional sector (Tables A9-II and A9-III).
  - Foreign currency assets of monetary authorities: Foreign currency deposits with deposit-taking corporations resident in the reporting economy (see para. 6.65) and Foreign currency claims on neighbouring economies (see para. 6.73).
  - Foreign assets of special purpose government funds not included in reserve assets (see para. 6.93-6.98).
  - Pooled assets included in reserve assets (see para. 6.99-6.101).
  - Pledged assets excluded from reserve assets (see para. 6.107-6.109).
  - Debt securities at nominal values (see para. 7.30).
  - Remaining maturity split for debt liabilities (Table A9-IV) for each instrument and sector.
  - Integrated IIP statement with positions, transactions, and other changes in volume, exchange rate changes and other revaluations (as shown in Table 7.1) by asset and liability category; also changes in positions due to transactions by other parties (see para. 9.16).
  - Contingent assets / liabilities (see para. 5.10).

*Annex III. Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM) Alignment Framework.*

### Annex IV. Government Finance Statistics (GFS) Alignment Framework – Concepts, Accounting Rules, and Methods

### Annex IV. Government Finance Statistics (GFS) Alignment Framework – Concepts, Accounting Rules, and Methods

### I. GFS Alignment Framework – Metadata
- The framework requests disclosure on publication frequency and timeliness:
  - Annual GFS: Y/N; link; question: "How soon after the end of the year are the data published? (select from dropdown)"
  - Quarterly GFS: Y/N; link; question: "How soon after the end of the year are the data published? (select from dropdown)"
  - Monthly GFS: Y/N; link; question: "How soon after the end of the year are the data published? (select from dropdown)"
- Questions on dissemination standards and revision policies:
  - Do you follow one of IMF’s data dissemination standards? Y/N
  - Of which standard are you a subscriber (SDDS+ / SDDS / e-GDDS)? (select from dropdown)
  - Do you have a published revision policy? Y/N; link
  - Is the GFS revision policy consistent with the National Accounts revision policy? Y/N; link
  - If not consistent, request for reasons.
- Questions on institutional lists and harmonization:
  - Do you have a published list of government and/or public sector units? Y/N; link
  - How frequently is the list updated? (select from dropdown)
  - Is the process of producing the list published? Y/N; link
  - Are different GFS publications harmonized and consistent? Y/N
  - Are high frequency GFS consistent with annual GFS? Y/N (additional detail)
  - Are public sector debt statistics consistent with other GFS data? Y/N (additional detail)
  - Are published GFS harmonized and coherent with National Accounts publications? Y/N (additional detail)
  - Are published GFS harmonized and coherent with External Sector Statistics publications? Y/N (additional detail)
- Other documentation: "Topic Theme Insert name: Insert link:"

### II. GFS Alignment Framework – Coverage (Institutional and Stock/Flow)
- Institutional sectors and frequency/coverage matrix requested for:
  - BCG, EBCG, CG, SSF, SG, LG, GG, NFPC, FPC, PS
- Questions to indicate for each sector:
  - What is the accounting bases of the statistics (CA, AC, PA)?
  - Are the data consolidated (Y/N)?
  - What is the highest frequency of publication (A, Q, M)?
- Coverage items to be indicated (for each sector): 
  - Revenue
  - Expenditure – economic classification
  - Expenditure – functional classification (COFOG)
  - Transactions in financial assets and liabilities
  - Nonfinancial assets (stocks)
  - Financial assets (stocks)
  - Liabilities - including debt (stocks)
  - Other economic flows
  - Contingent liabilities (stocks)
- Abbreviations defined exactly:
  - BCG = Budgetary Central Government, EBCG = Extrabudgetary Central Government, CG = Central Government, SSF = Social Security Funds, LG = Local Government, GG = General Government, NFPC = Nonfinancial Public Corporations, FPC = Financial Public Corporation, PS = Public Sector, CA = Cash, AC = Accrual, PA = Partial Accrual*, A = Annual, Q = Quarterly, M = Monthly.
  - Note: "* Partial Accrual may indicate that either some items/interactions are recorded on a cash basis and others on an accrual basis; or that all items/interactions are neither recorded on a pure cash or a pure accrual basis."
- Codes to be used:
  - “NP” if institutional sector not applicable to country, “NA” if institutional sector is applicable but data are not compiled/published.

### III. GFS Alignment Framework – Concepts, Accounting Rules, and Methods
- Degree-of-alignment categories and exact thresholds:
  - Fully aligned: between 95-100 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - Highly aligned: between 75-95 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - Broadly aligned: between 50-75 per cent of the recommendations is implemented
  - Partially aligned: between 25-50 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - Not aligned: between 0-25 per cent of the recommendation is implemented
  - N/A: recommendation is not applicable (for issues of materiality)
- A. Concepts and definitions — principal inclusions/exclusions and unit definitions:
  - Units of general government include:
    - All central government budgetary units
    - Territorial enclaves in the rest of the world
    - All state government units
    - All local government units
    - All social security funds
    - All non-market nonprofit institutions (NPIs) controlled by government units
    - All non-financial corporations controlled by government which do not meet the criteria to be market producers
    - All financial corporations controlled by government which do not meet the criteria to be market producers
  - Public corporations include:
    - Central Bank, and central supervisory authorities which are financial auxiliaries
    - All non-financial corporations controlled by government which are institutional units and meet the criteria to be market producers
    - All financial corporations controlled by government which are institutional units and meet the criteria to be market producers
  - Revenue concepts:
    - Revenue includes only those transactions which increase net worth
    - In-kind revenues are included
    - Transactions in debt forgiveness (to government) are included
    - All social contributions are included without consolidation (treated as transactions between households and government)
    - Only that portion of dividends which do not meet the “super-dividend test” (see GFSM 2014 paras. 5.115-6) are included
    - Only taxes and social contributions where there is a realistic expectation of collection are included
    - Principal payments related to (policy) lending are excluded
    - Privatisation proceeds are excluded (and included instead as disposals of equity)
    - Non-financial asset sale proceeds are excluded (and included as transactions in nonfinancial assets)
  - Expense concepts:
    - Expense includes only those transactions which decrease net worth
    - In-kind expenses are included
    - Consumption of fixed capital is included
    - Compensation of employees includes all amounts payable to employees in the form of cash, goods, services, interest foregone (etc.) in return for work performed
    - Compensation of employees includes imputed employers’ social contributions related to pension, and other social benefit, entitlements
    - Subsidies only include transfers made to enterprises based on their production levels or quantities
    - Capital injections are included where there is no effective financial claim or expectation of realistic return
    - Transactions in debt forgiveness (by government) are included
    - All capital transfers (external and domestic) are included
    - Acquisitions of equity and (policy) lending are excluded
  - Non-financial assets — included items:
    - Buildings (such as government offices, army barracks, public monuments, schools, and hospitals)
    - Infrastructure (such as roads, bridges, railways, tunnels, sewers, harbors, dams, power lines)
    - Transport equipment (such as cars, trains, planes)
    - ICT equipment (such as computer hardware, telecommunications equipment)
    - Cultivated biological resources (such as trees, crops)
    - Research and development products
    - Mineral exploration and evaluation (whether successful or not)
    - Weapons systems (such as warships, submarines, tanks, missile carriers and launchers, etc.)
    - Inventories
    - Natural resources (such as land, mineral and energy resources, radio spectrum)
    - Contracts, leases and licenses (such as transferable permits to use natural resources or to undertake a specific activity)
  - Financial assets and liabilities — included items:
    - Monetary gold (assets only)
    - Special Drawing Rights
    - Currency and deposits
    - Debt securities
    - Loans
    - Equity
    - Pension entitlements and/or Claims of pension funds on pension managers, for employment-related pensions (as applicable)
    - Provisions for calls under standardized guarantee schemes
    - Financial derivatives
    - Other accounts receivable / payable
- B. Accounting Rules — valuation, timing, consolidation:
  - Valuation rules:
    - All stocks, transactions, and other economic flows are recorded using a single unit of account (usually the domestic currency)
    - Stocks of financial assets and liabilities are valued at market prices
    - Debt statistics are produced at nominal value
    - Stocks of non-financial assets are valued at market prices
    - Transactions in non-financial produced fixed assets are net of consumption of fixed capital
    - Transactions in non-financial produced assets include costs of ownership transfer (such as fees, taxes, transport and installation charges)
    - Costs of ownership transfer related to nonfinancial non-produced assets are included as non-financial produced (fixed) assets
    - Transactions in foreign currency are converted using the mid-point exchange rate prevailing in the market when they take place
    - Stocks in foreign currency are converted using the exchange rate prevailing in the market at the time of measurement
    - Consumption of fixed capital, where reported, is valued at current replacement cost
  - Time of recording:
    - Transactions and flows are recorded on an accrual basis
    - Interest is recorded as accruing continuously, over the period that the financial asset to which it relates exists
    - Rent is recorded as accruing continuously, over the period of the resource lease
    - Dividends are recorded when the corporation declares the dividend payable
    - Fines and penalties are recorded when the recipient has an unconditional claim to the funds
    - Transactions in non-financial assets are recorded when economic ownership of the assets changes
    - Where there is a material difference between when goods are purchased and used, they are first recognized as inventories before being expensed
  - Consolidation rules:
    - Internal transactions within an institutional unit are consolidated and not recorded
    - Transactions between units within a subsector are consolidated and not recorded in the GFS for that subsector
    - Transactions between government (or public sector) sub-sectors are consolidated and not recorded in the GFS for the general government sector (or public sector)
    - Internal stock positions within an institutional unit are consolidated and not recorded
    - Stock positions between units within a sub-sector are consolidated and not recorded in the GFS for that subsector
    - Stock positions between government (or public sector) subsectors are consolidated and not recorded in the GFS for the general government sector (or public sector)
- C. Methods — implementation approaches and specific decision tools:
  - Taxes are recorded using either the time-adjusted cash method or the assessment/declaration approach (see GFSM 2014 para. 3.80)
  - Costs incurred in own-account capital formation are treated solely as transactions in nonfinancial assets and are excluded from expense
  - Employment-related pension liabilities are calculated using an actuarial approach (and related property expenses, and employers’ social contributions within compensation of employees, imputed)
  - Dividend payments are assessed using the “super-dividend test” and split between revenue/expense and transactions in financial assets/liabilities, as required
  - Capital injections are assessed using the “capital injection decision tree” and split between expense/revenue and transactions in financial assets/liabilities, as required
  - The nature of leases is carefully examined to distinguish operating leases from financial leases
  - The risk and reward assessment of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) is conducted to determine whether or not the assets should be on the public sector balance sheet

### IV. GFS Alignment Framework – Classifications & Accounts/Tables
- Checklist items to indicate reporting status (Y/N), timeliness, level of detail, omissions:
  - Presentation: Accounts and Tables (includes classifications)
    - Statement of Operations Y/N
      - Revenue Y/N
      - Expense Y/N
    - Transactions in Nonfinancial Assets, Financial Assets, and Liabilities Y/N
    - Expenditure by COFOG Y/N
      - including, Cross-Classification of Expenditure by Function (COFOG) and Economic Classifications Y/N
    - Statement of Sources and Uses of Cash Y/N
    - Statement of Other Economic Flows Y/N
    - Balance Sheet Y/N
    - Integrated Statement of Flows and Stock Positions Y/N
    - Statement of Total Changes in Net Worth Y/N
    - Summary Statement of Explicit Contingent Liabilities and Net Implicit Obligations for Future Social Security Benefits Y/N
    - Gross Debt at Market, Nominal, and Face Value Y/N
    - Net Debt at Market, Nominal, and Face Value Y/N
    - Counterparty of Transactions in Financial Assets and Liabilities by Institutional Sector Y/N
    - Counterparty of Stocks in Financial Assets and Liabilities by Institutional Sector Y/N

### Annex V — Outcomes of Committee Discussions (July, October, November 2021)
- July 2021 AEG meeting — questions posed to members:
  1. Agreement with components of the SNA, BPM and GFS alignment frameworks as presented in the Annex?
  2. Agreement with the ‘dashboard’ methodology used for the assessment framework?
  3. Agreement with the definition of the categories – fully aligned, highly aligned, broadly aligned, and partially aligned?
  4. Proposals for communicating a country’s overall level of alignment to users?
- Summary of July 2021 discussions and guidance to the CMTT:
  - Members welcomed progress but encouraged alignment with existing frameworks: UN National Quality Assurance Framework, IMF’s Data Quality Assurance Framework (DQAF), and the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM)
  - Members emphasized flexibility for countries to indicate deviations due to domestic circumstances; framework includes a 'not applicable' category
  - On the dashboard scoring approach:
    - Recognition of need for an overall assessment to define degree of adoption
    - General reluctance to use a single 'score' to measure alignment or quality
    - Concerns noted about subjectivity of assessment and how the tool differs from or complements existing metadata
  - CMTT requested to further refine the guidance note with target for next version to be ready by the end of September 2021; guidance note subsequently updated to reflect members’ comments
- October and November 2021 BOPCOM and AEG meetings — questions asked:
  1. Do you agree to move this note forward to global consultation?
  2. Do you agree with the components of the SNA, BPM and GFS alignment frameworks as presented in the Annex?
  3. Do you agree with the ‘dashboard’ methodology used for the assessment framework?
  4. Do you agree with the definition of the categories – fully aligned, highly aligned, broadly aligned, and partially aligned? Do you have proposals on how to communicate a country’s overall level of alignment to users?
- Summary of October/November 2021 discussions and suggested improvements:
  - Committee members fully supported moving the guidance note for global consultation
  - Strong support for the alignment frameworks and dashboard approach, with suggestions:
    - Conduct pilot surveys among volunteering countries on the proposed frameworks
    - Include guidelines on balancing information about alignment with international standards and other metadata, particularly for statistical offices with limited resources
    - Provide further guidance on interpretation of the dashboard (example: after paragraph 23, one category shown as both broadly aligned and not aligned)
    - Finalize granularity of components after updated BPM6 recommendations (and other Manuals) are available
    - Provide further guidance on judging dashboard elements to avoid subjectivity in assessments
    - Link self-assessments to equivalent standard pages on IMF e-GDDS, SDDS, and/or SDDS+
    - Promote a central webpage similar to the IMF Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) “National Summary Data Page”
  - Additional observation: full alignment on the dashboard may not always correspond to better quality; a country with partial alignment but better source data might be shown as inferior to a fully aligned country

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/data/statistics/bpm6/cmtt/cm1-gn-alignment-framework.pdf_